Thursday, May 7, 2009

China : Green Miracle to match Economic Miracle


Public attitudes in China towards the environment have also started to change. Few recent news articles wrote that the wind farms in China have become a tourist attraction with newly married couples, kids and youths clicking photographs with windmills in the background.

Nuclear, solar and hydroelectricity are also being lined up for massive new investment through China's £400bn stimulus package, with 2020 targets for nuclear power raised from 40 gigawatts to 60 gigawatts, with some officials even talking of aiming for 70GW.

Investment is also being poured into China's electricity grid to enable more renewable sources to be connected, while planners say they want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 50 per cent by 2020.

It seems China's leaders now realize that for long-term growth to be sustainable they will have to both reduce power usage by finding greater efficiencies and boost the amount of renewable energy entering the national grid.The green evolution in China has not been easy. It is only after the Chinese people woke up to these problems and put extensive pressure on the government to drive the change.

In Beijing the efforts to clean up the air pollution ahead of last year's Olympic Games as just one example of how the Chinese public's mindset is rapidly changing. After the games there were several popular campaigns by residents who had enjoyed clean air for the first time in a decade to keep polluting factories closed and retain traffic restrictions.

In Beijing the government has installed solar panels to power street lights and, along the rooftops of the city's remaining courtyard houses can be seen the winding pipes of solar water heaters, yet further evidence of change. The key will be the power of China's government to force through green measures and absorb the financial losses of early investment in green technologies.

It will be a massive challenge, but China could now achieve a "second, green miracle" to match the "economic miracle" of the last 20 years.

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